Ancient pottery delays TSMC's new fab

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has said that it may adjust the location of a new manufacturing site being built in Greater Tainan after builders found what is believed to be an archaeological site at the location.

While digging up the ground for the company’s Fab 14 Phase 5 manufacturing complex, builders stumbled across pottery. The chip company said it quickly called in authorities in Greater Tainan to help them find out whether the pottery was an archaeological find and if there was a possibility of more relics further under the ground.

The company said that if the ground was found to house historical artifacts it would move the construction to the Phase 6 base nearby. It added that if there was another archaeological site under the Phase 6 base, and it had planned bases for Phase 7 and 8 as back-ups.

According to Taiwan Economic News, The Tainan Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage preliminarily identified the pottery as a relic from the Niuchoutzu Culture period, which lasted from 3,300 to 4,200 years ago.

It said because this had only been found six meters down, it would ask TSMC to dig a further 5.5 meters, and give authorities time to dig out any artifacts found. It added that once all the artifacts had been collected from the site TSMC could continue to dig to the planned 10 meters.

However, the company could face delays. The way that the land is laid means that archeological sites in the region are buried deep underground and are not easy to find.

Since 1995, about 66 archeological sites have been found in the park, with excavations conducted at 31 sites and the others kept intact as natural landscapes.